Hello again, reader.
My husband fixed the netbook! So now I can blog again.
So, what's new?
Cancer update:
°Another surgery. Scan on the 17th November, meeting with surgeon on 24 November to set surgery date.
°Another radioactive iodine treatment probably in March 2010.
°Levothyrox dose is still too high, but I get to take a lower dose Friday through Sunday.
Novel Update:
°Working on characters and their backgrounds. Oddly, the plot is forming more solidly through this process
°I am not doing NaNoWriMo. I have metastatic thyroid cancer and am training a dog with serious abandonment issues.
Dog? Dog? What dog?
Rather than adopt a greyhound (we were having a hell of a time getting associations to respond to us, most still haven't at all), we went through an adoption association in the Ile-de-France region. We were surfing adoption sites when I saw Perla, a three year-old Mini Pinscher who was abandoned in La Réunion. The S.P.A. there figured she'd have a better chance of being adopted in France. I fell for her immediately and we started the process.
She is a sweet girl as long as she's not alone. Once alone, she has panic attacks brought on by separation anxiety. We're working on that. Doing clicker training, which is a blast. Fun way to teach, to learn and to bond. She has sit inside the house down perfectly. We're working on outside the door and in the elevator. I can't blame her for not wanting to stick her bare butt on the cold, wet ground outside. Next up, place. Very important. Her favourite things are cuddling on the couch with me for hours, breakfast, dinner and her Kong toy. It's the only toy she understands how to play with. The others are a mystery to her. She loves to go on walks so much, that I have lost another 4 pounds since we got her. The other day we found one of Chester's stray hairs on her forehead. We chose to see this as a sign of approval from the beyond. I think he really would have liked her. They would have been great nap buddies. As hard as the separation anxiety can be, we're going to work through it. She'll learn that we won't abandon her. The vet is trying to help by giving us a pheromone difuser and some doggie downers. I have contacted the adoption association for advice, tricks they used to have her stay calm when she moved in with them. No response at all. I find that odd because they made so much noise about us staying in touch and blah, blah, blah. We ask for any help and they vanish. Very weird. We'll look into crate training as well. The Kong does not seem to be enough to overcome our absence. We'll get there.
I think that is all the news I have for now.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
tomorrow i catch the train to more southerly climes. last week when i was there i watched a kite hover over the pasture in front of the assistencia. it's a floodplain. cattle are still grazed there though at this time of year the pasture is empty. right about sunset i stood by the fence and watched the kite climb into the sky. it hovered and dove many times. continually missed its mark. finally it managed to pin something to the earth. then it struggled into the air and flew to the top of a large oak to eat its prey.
had peculiar dreams last night. they were very vivid. i was by turns angry and crushed. i rolled around until tangled in the duvet. bashed my arm on a protruding wall plug.
have most of a sock knit. i'll knit the other on the train while i listen to podcasts and watch the other passengers. that's really the great appeal of trains for me. you sometimes encounter very interesting characters. other times you spend the trip avoiding the bathroom and the doleful mouth-breathing gawps of drunken degenerates. i suppose even those are interesting in their way.
wellidy. i go.
If you joined the circus, what act would you most want to perform?
Setting free the elephants. The lions and bears, too. Pretty much all of the animals. Only not just setting them free - somehow magically restoring their lost habitats and returning them home, so they can heal up from the bullhook scars and other injuries that are all just part of being "trained" to entertain people.
After that? Maybe the trapeze.
Recently, I've been a lot more thankful for everything I have in life. I made a resolve a few months ago to stop complaining at work (harder than I thought honestly -- some of the stuff that goes in the ICU really tests me sometimes) and try to live an overall happier life. I think all of this is after something I remember harping to my mom about -- "Ma, I don't think I ever hear a positive word come out of your mouth." "Isn't what you're saying now negative too?" she rebutted. Smartass!
Today is "Evaluate Your Life Day." So, tell us: how do you think you're life's going so far?
Clearly my li'fe does not ha've enough random apostrophes. Im telling' you, I think every'one needs more of them.
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
tonight as i walked home a young fellow on a bicycle came zipping around the corner. i had stopped there to wait for the signal to change so i could cross the street. he shouted something unintelligible. sounded like "heeeeeey shandeeeee." and then nodded genteelly at me and said "please excuse me." it happened so very quickly. then a bumblebee flew out of the dark and deviled me for a moment. flew around my face again and again. flew to the sprig of red kangaroo paw i had gripped in my hand. then disappeared into darkness again.
wellidy. to sleep.
